Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a gettering treatment process for an insulating layer (e.g., a silicon oxide thin layer) of a semiconductor device, and more particularly, to a gettering process for removing harmful impurities, such as mobile ions and heavy metals, by trapping (capturing) these impurities in a silicon oxide layer (e.g., gate oxide layer) formed by thermally oxidizing silicon (e.g., a silicon substrate).